As is well known, after snow falls it is desirable to remove the snow from areas that are used by pedestrians and vehicles. As used herein, the term “areas” includes sidewalks and other known pedestrian walkways such as walking paths, stairs, patios and decks, as well as driveways and certain roadways, parking areas and alleyways that are cleaned after a snowstorm with a conventional shovel, snowblower, or other equipment that carries a plow.
Larger conventional snow removal machines, such as snowblowers, can be mounted to the front of wheeled vehicles such as tractors. In these instances, a driver sits on the vehicle and drives the attached snowblower during its operation. Other conventional snow removal machines are walk-behind models that are self-propelled or manually pushed by the operator. Self-propelled models typically include a belt drive power transmission system having a driving pulley connected to the output shaft of an engine, a driven pulley connected to one end of a rotating shaft, and an endless belt positioned around the driving and driven pulleys for transmitting power from the engine to the rotating shaft, so that the wheels of the snowblower rotate in response to the operation of the engine when the transmission system is engaged. Examples of conventional snow removing machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,018, U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,237, U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,730, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,812, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Two major types of snow blowing systems are used in snowblowers. These systems include one-stage blower systems and two-stage blower systems. A one-stage snowblower usually has a housing including a sub-housing. The sub-housing has a front opening where the snow is taken in between spaced apart sidewalls, as a powered rotating member, such as an impeller or brush, cuts or sweeps the snow. An engine is mounted on the housing and the impeller is journalled into the sidewalls of the sub-housing. The impeller is rotated by a direct drive mechanism connected to the engine as is known. In a one-stage snowblower, the impeller is the only powered device used for collecting the snow and throwing the snow out the snowblower's snow exhaust chute or front opening.
A two-stage snowblower is similar to a one-stage snowblower in that it has a main housing with a front sub-housing having spaced apart sidewalls and an engine mounted to the main housing. However, a two-stage snowblower uses an auger journalled between the spaced apart sidewalls of the sub-housing to collect the snow to be brought into an opening of the sub-housing. The auger is generally a pair of opposing helical members that in a first stage rotate to force the snow into the opening of the sub-housing. In the second stage, a fan is located to the rear of the opening. The fan forces the snow up and out of the snow exhaust chute as the fan rotates.
In the typical operation of a snowblower, a scrapper at the front of the sub-housing opening lifts the snow into the sub-housing where the rotating auger(s) or impeller cuts the snow. However, no matter the type of conventional snowblower used to clear an area, after the snowblower passes over the area, a layer of snow, ice and/or slush will remain. This can be due to the inability of the snowblower to scrape all of the snow, ice and/or slush off the surface of the area because of damage to the opening of the sub-housing. This can also be caused by an irregular/uneven surface in the area being snowblown that results in the front opening of the snowblower riding over the highest point of the irregular/uneven surface and thereby passing over some of the snow, ice and/or slush. No matter the cause of the leftover snow, ice and/or slush, the mere fact that it remains after the snowblower has gone over the area can create a very dangerous situation for people traversing the area, especially if the remaining snow and slush freeze and turn to ice. In order to treat this situation, many people attempt to spread a deicer on the surface of the area using their hand or a manual spreader after they have completed using their snowblower. However, these spreaders may not provide enough deicer to effect a substantially complete clearing of the path. Alternatively, an excessive amount of the deicer may be applied over the area to be treated. Excessive amounts of deicer can cause significant waste of the deicer and structural damage to the surface of the area that will only add to the inability of a snowblower to effectively clean off that area in the future. Additionally, excessive amounts of deicer can be environmentally dangerous and cause injuries to people and animals that use the treated area. As a result, a system for properly applying a predetermined and accurate amount of a treatment material is needed.
Moreover, modern society places a premium on the time that people have to complete occupational tasks as well as house and yard work. As a result, the additional steps of having to separately retrieve and distribute deicing and/or anti-icing agents is undesirable as it adds to the total time required to complete the snow removal and treat the area from which the snow was removed.
A need therefore exists in the art for a snow removal device that applies a treatment material to the surface of an area after a snowblower has passed over that surface in order to deice the surface and prevent the formation of future ice and snow on the surface. A need also exists for such a device that eliminates the additional steps of retrieving the deicing and/or anti-icing material and applying it separately from the snow removal operation.